Tea in a Keurig?

I hve a keurig at home and I love to use it for coffee. However, I don’t think that the tea leaves would have time to steep. The way a Keurig works is to run the water through the coffee and out the bottom of the capsule without much time for it to sit inside the k-cup. Without the time to sit inside the k-cup there is no time to steep the tea leaves. I think that the leaves would not have enough time change the water to the tea liquor and instead you might just get brown water.

I think you could use hot water from the keurig to make the tea — just watch out for any leftover coffee flavors.

I use mine just for coffee too, I saw reviews of people saying they have used the refillable cups w/loose leaf but I doubt you’re getting the best possible flavor out of it. There’s a difference between loose tea leafs and ground up coffee. I had gotten one of the tea k-cups with the machine and tried it for the heck of it and it was also finely ground.

I will use it on occasion for plain water, if I don’t need it boiling hot since it only heats to 195 (and sometimes I don’t think it even gets that hot), but only after running an empty cycle through to make sure there’s no coffee taste. It’s pretty easy to just run it empty for some hot water for a tea that is brewed at a lower temperature.

The one I had was made by a common grocery tea producer and it was terrible. But probably black tea would perform better in k-cup. The one I had was green tea. After that, I fully understood why some people hate green tea :-p
The k-cup coffee I had was all fine. Not great, but pretty good.

I haven’t tried brewing loose tea in a K-cup, but I regularly use the Keurig machine at work as a hot water dispenser. Sometimes, to get a larger amount than the default (4 oz.?) that comes out when you push the Hot Water button, I dump out the last K-cup, say Yes when asked if I want to proceed without one, and choose 10 oz. as the serving size. The only disadvantage is that I invariably get a few stray coffee grounds mixed in with my tea … not disastrous with black tea but rather undesirable with green.

Incidentally, the water temperature of the Keurig is a little lower than boiling, which has actually enhanced the flavor of some teas I’ve made with it, notably a Golden Monkey.

I’ve yet to try loose leaf in my Keurig, but I use tea bags in it ALL the time. I feel like it typically makes the tea on the strong side, which I like. I’m trying to think of a way to use it for loose leaf without spending almost $20 on the special coffee filter thing…

The only thing I will say is- if I’m going to make an herbal tea where I really, really want to get ALL the benefits- I will do it the traditional way just to make sure I’m not missing out on anything. I’m not sure if this matters or not though?

I used just to run it through plain for hot water, and then stick the bag itself in. Or if you have a steeper / tea ball, you could always just use it for hot water that way. I have an electric kettle now, though, and I don’t regret the $30 it cost at all.

OH and I forgot to mention- I just rip off the tag and stick the bag where the k-cup would normally go. Then afterwards I usually run a cycle just with the water to make sure no flavor transfers over to my next cup of tea.

I actually tried this with my mom’s brand new machine, as it comes with a cup for loose leaves. I tried it out with green and black teas (together in a blend and separate), but I would be wary of rooibos or honeybush; those little leaves seep out all over the place! It works pretty well. Now that there’s this added feature I may have to get one too!

I just did, by plucking open a tea bag and dumping it into the my k-cup. It was. Really good! I’m going to try Jamielynn’s tip in the future to save time. I’m excited. Though a little saddened as this puts Mrs. Tea somewhat out of a job. Lol.